My WRiTE CLUB Experience

For the past several weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of participating — with complete anonymity — in a unique writing contest. It’s called WRiTE CLUB, and it’s hosted by D.L. Hammons. The concept is simple: entrants were asked to submit a 500-word piece of fiction under a pen name. I’d learned about the contest from my agency-sister Tex Thompson back in May, just a few days before the submission deadline.

I had little experience with flash fiction. Even when writing short stories, I struggled with encapsulating a complete SF/F concept in just a few thousand words. But I’m a sucker for contests, and I had the seed of a new idea: a heist story in a fantasy setting, told from the con man’s point of view.

Contest Strategy

Tex won WRiTE CLUB 2013, and went on to become a published author this year. Her western fantasy novel One Night in Sixes just came out from Solaris Books. The sequel, Medicine for the Dead, is due out in March 2015. She also got to help judge the final entries. See what winning WRiTE CLUB can do?

In her post promoting this year’s contest, Tex suggested that would-be entrants study the submissions that did well last year. I’m glad I followed her advice, because it yielded two important strategies:

1. First-person Point of View

Many voters seemed to connect more easily to first person POV. It’s not required, of course, but it lets you build the MC’s character because the story is told in his voice. Plus, I love writing in first person, so I need only the smallest of excuses.

2. Creative Pen Name

WRiTE CLUB requires that all entrants submit their work under a pen name. I noticed that there were some humorous and memorable pen names in 2013, the best of which somehow matched the tone/content of the submission. Tex, for example, wrote western-inspired fantasy under the name “Muleshoe.” I came up with a name that I hoped would hint at the fantasy setting and reflect my main character’s jaded, slightly-mocking personality: Lord Codpiece.

Even if the humor or personality didn’t come through, I figured it would at least be memorable.

My First Submission

Writing a 500-word piece in SF/F was a real challenge. I knew I wanted to drop right into the action. The idea for an opening came to me, and I ran with it:

I was ten steps from the ballroom door, my pockets stuffed with stolen jewelry, when I stepped on someone’s foot.

“Watch yourself, you oaf!” a man spat.

I tried to ignore it, but he grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. That shook something loose from the stash hidden in my jacket; it fell into my right boot. Felt like one of the sapphire earrings.

“I called you an oaf,” he said.

The word count limit forced me to keep world-building to a minimum, so I focused on dialogue, tension, and setting up a twist ending. I sent off my submission and settled in to wait.

WRiTE CLUB Qualifying

This was the fourth year for WRiTE CLUB, and it saw 167 entries. A record number, which is something the entrants never want to hear. A panel of 11 judges narrowed the list down to 32. They wouldn’t all be announced at the start; in previous years, most of those who didn’t make the cut never came back to read entries or vote. Instead, the chosen 32 were randomly paired off in two bouts per week starting in June.

I figured that waiting for weeks and weeks to see if I’d made the top 20% was going to be pure agony. Imagine my delight when I went online for the very first bout and saw that I was in it! I was thrilled to get in, but had no idea what to expect. Who had entered this contest? Who had made the cut? There was a lot of mystery.

The Long Wait

Writing and getting published takes incredible patience. Most of us know that intellectually, but knowing doesn’t make the wait any easier. Thus, when I managed to win the first bout, it was a double-edged sword: I knew I’d see the next round, but that was over TWO MONTHS away.

In the meantime, I got to see my competition as preliminary rounds progressed. Reading them proved both enjoyable and intimidating; there was some real talent out there. The random pairing made for interesting results, too. You’d have fantasy paired with contemporary, or adult sci-fi with middle grade adventure. Often a round came down to subjectivity (another thing writers hate hearing about) of those who were casting votes.

The Playoffs

The playoff round was more serious, because every participant already had a win under his or her belt, and many were hard-fought. It looked like I might win my first playoff round, which meant I’d need to have a second 500-word piece ready for playoff round two. Voters had responded well to my first piece, so I knew I’d be using the same character. It was tempting to simply continue the scene in the ballroom, but I ultimately had another flash of inspiration I liked better: the MC trying to smuggle himself out of the city during a manhunt.

The opening line got in my head and sort of stuck there:

Say what you will about smugglers, but they have a flair for creativity. I pondered this as I crouched in a hidden compartment, somewhere beneath the bilge of a leaking ship.

This piece was harder for me because I wanted to keep playing to the strengths of my first piece (dialogue and pace) but also build the world a little. A voter had remarked that my piece didn’t even seem like fantasy.

Funny story, I had the piece mostly written when we went out of town for the weekend. Then I got an e-mail saying the submission was due THAT NIGHT or else I’d be disqualified. I had to finish writing it, check the word count, and submit with my smartphone. It was a close thing.

The voting was back-and-forth in playoff round two, with many readers grabbed by the other piece, a first-person POV contemporary. I did manage to win, which meant I’d go to the third round (the final six) with the same piece.

The Lord and the Baron

Every match in playoff round 3 was a nail-biter. My own bout was a clash of royalty: Lord Codpiece versus The Baron. We were well-matched, too. My fantasy smuggler story was pitted against the Baron’s creepy, compelling space opera told from the POV of a spaceship. For the first several days, the Baron had more votes. I didn’t expect to win.

The tide turned a little bit near the end of the voting, but I barely came out ahead. The margin couldn’t have been more of a vote or two.

Revision and Semi-final

For the semi-final bout, the four remaining participants had the chance to revise their second piece based on voter feedback. The voters had been kind enough to tell me about a couple things that weren’t working, so I did my best to fix those. The hardest part was knowing that I’d face one of my favorite other competitors in WRiTE CLUB: Swick (contemporary YA), Cocktail Lion (middle grade), or petrichor (urban fantasy).

By this time, voting had dwindled. It was a simple fact that most of the people voting had been (or still were) entrants to WRiTE CLUB. In fact, one of them (Dannie Morin) was a co-mentor with me in Brenda Drake’s Pitch Wars. Without intending to, I stumbled upon the realization that she was Swick.

Petrichor’s piece was about a girl with a living/magical dragon tattoo. It had lost to Swick’s piece in a heated battle in the previous round, but won the wild card slot (for most votes without winning). It was also one of my favorite entries in the whole contest. We had a close semi-final match, but my revised piece was enough to send me to the final.

The Final Duel

There was no flash of inspiration for the new 500-word piece I had to write for the final bout. A lot more rode on this round, too, because 11 publishing professionals (literary agents, editors, established authors, etc.) would pick the winner. However, I felt like I’d raised a question with the first piece, with the MC getting caught in his own web of lies. I’d made a promise of sorts to the readers. So I picked up where the first piece left off:

I never fight a duel unless there’s profit involved, but the palace guards brooked no argument. They escorted me right to the torchlit green outside her majesty’s ballroom.

You wouldn’t believe how many times I rewrote that opening. It lacked the cache and excitement of the other two openings I’d written, a fact even mentioned by the judges. I left it, though, because it set the scene in the way that I needed. My favorite part of the piece was the climactic point of the duel. I remember exactly where I was, driving home from work, when the idea came to me.

We scuffled again, locked blades. He threw a shoulder into me.

I stumbled back, clutching my chest. “You got me!”

He stopped his advance. “What?”

“You’ve drawn my blood, sir.”

“I did not!”

I laughed out loud when I got that idea, and it set up the ending perfectly. There was a lot more I wanted to do with the scene, but when I saw I could capture an entire story (beginning, middle, end) in one 500-word piece, I went for it.

Write Club Finals

My piece went up alongside that of the other finalist, MG writer Cocktail Lion. By then, I’d figured out that he was AJ Vanderhorst. I knew he could write because he’d been chosen for Pitch Wars — as an alternate — by one of the coveted MG mentors (Brooks Benjamin). Fittingly, A.J. wrote a strong piece for the final round. I liked it, as did many of the voters.

All wins are nice, but wins resulting from plain and simple hard work and determination are extra special. The fact that the win came from among so many entries is merely icing on the cake. A hearty congratulations to you on that!

I was so looking forward to this years Write Club, and I almost had a story to submit. I couldn’t wait to get in on all the voting, but life decided to throw me a major curve ball instead, which meant I missed the entire competition.
Gutted doesn’t even cover it, but I’ll be super ready for it next year.

I’m back. I told my BLITZ Team about your victory and a few of them might drop by and offer their congratulations. Since your not officially a member of the team, its optional, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you see a slight upswing in your comments today. 🙂

Congrats on winning WRiTE Club! Thanks for this insider view of what it was like throughout the process. I’ve enjoyed competing in the past and have lots of fun reading and voting…though I flaked after the first round this season.

I let personal preference dictate my voting this year, but I think that’s probably the single most thing that drives publishers & book sales, so that’s just another way that the Club is like a tiny model of the overall publishing world, yeah?

I appreciate these insights into the writing of your pieces. Last year I got too fancy when it came time to enter a new piece and wanted to show versatility, so I went with something that had a completely different tone than the one that had done well with readers — foolish, foolish move.

Best of luck with your future writing adventures. Your well-crafted jewel theif character will stay with me for a long time.

I truly enjoyed your piece for Write Club from the very beginning, and I do mean the beginning, when I was going though all 13something entries. Your ability to convey so much through dialogue and action truly set an exciting pace. I’m all about showing vs. telling and your work was a marvelous example.

Congrats on the BIG WIN. Write Club is being taken very seriously and is nothing to sneeze at.

Just like your work in Write club this post was a pleasure to read. Enjoyed being taken through all the steps by one of the contestants.

Hope you enjoy being Blitzed and glad to see that you’ve joined the cause.

What a great Write Club experience you had! You learned a lot and were kind enough to share your new-found knowledge with the rest of us. And a prestigious first writing contest to win. Congrats and good fortunes to you matey!

Hey Dan! That’s fantastic! I love your opening lines too. It’s all about that early connection with an interesting character. I think we’ll be seeing great things from you in the future.
I did Write Club back in the day and it was always a fun experience. Glad yours was exceptional!

[…] on to become the reigning WRiTE CLUB champion. If you’re up for it, you can read the complete chronicle of my WRiTE CLUB experience that I posted last year. Alas, my time with the title is nearing an end, because a new year of […]

[…] around to watch you do it” – then you have a real winner on your hands. Dan: I’ve shared my strategies in a previous post, but briefly: studied the past contests to see what worked well, and then wrote the tightest […]